Race: Saleen inherits win

GPC Giesse Ferrari drivers Fabio Babini and Philipp Peter move up to second while Matteo Bobbi and Gabriele Gardel move up to third for the BMS Scuderia Italia team.

But the penalty cannot take away from what was a thrilling race with the sixth round of the championship originally decided on the final corners of the last lap when Wendlinger was overtaken by Vitphone's Alzen. Wendlinger re-took the lead at the penultimate corner to reach the chequered flag first.

The race began with the same excitement that it finished with reigning champion Matteo Bobbi flying off the grid to take the lead ahead of the Konrad Saleen S7 of Toni Seiler.

But Bobbi's start was just a bit too good and he was penalised for crossing the line first despite Seiler being on pole - the rules state that the pole-sitter must cross the line first. Bobbi was forced to take a drive-through penalty and emerged down in fifth spot.

It was all change at the driver switch with Vitaphone Racing's Michael Bartels leading JMB Racing's Melo by 23 seconds with Gabriele Gardel third for BMS Scuderia Italia.

With the third and final driver switch Alzen held the lead over Wendlinger by 33 seconds with Bobbi third and Fabio Babini fourth for GPC Giesse.

But Wendlinger was not settling for the runners-up slot and sprinted after Alzen dispensing him on lap 88. The Austrian stretched out a lead while Alzen slipped back but closed to within 6 seconds of Wendlinger after the JMB racer pitted.

The stage was set for a close finish and the spectators couldn't have asked for a better show as Alzen overtook Wendlinger only for him to hit the NGT Freisinger Motorsport Porsche 996 of Lucas Luhr at the Melbourne Hairpin losing his left rear wheel as a result. Wendlinger re-took the lead in the Ferrari and claimed the race win, for a few minutes anyway.

Alzen nursed the Saleen to the finish holding on to second place some 6.7 seconds down while the Ferraris took the next two positions with Peter and Babini in the GPC Giesse 575 Maranello heading the 550 Maranello of BMS Scuderia Italia's Bobbi and Gardel.

Alzen could not hide his disappointment though. "There was enough space for everyone," he said after the race. "But I think Lucas Luhr was too late on the brakes and he hit me on the back and the wishbone was broken and from that point it was not easy to come back to the straight but that was a big, big mistake from Lucas Luhr."

Luhr had a different opinion of the incident. "I heard what Uwe said and I cannot really quite agree with that," he said in the post race press conference. "If he says I made a mistake then okay I made a mistake, I apologise for that, I definitely didn't want to destroy anybody's race but I think it was a misunderstanding because he braked down and I was full lock on the front tyres turning in already, there was no more place for me to go."


Bartels/Alzen Saleen S7 3h00.20.491s
Peter/Babini Ferrari 575 Marenello 3h00.40.318s
Bobbi/Gardel Ferrari 550 Marenello 3h00.46.601s
Cappellari/Gollin Ferrari 550 Marenello 3h00.43.788s
Wendlinger/Melo Ferrari 575 M Marenello 3h0013.775s
Naspetti/Morbidelli Ferrari 575 M Marenello 3h00.14.887s

Ortelli/Collard Porsche 996 GT3-RSR 3h01.13.477s
Maassen/Luhr Porsche 996 GT3-RSR 3h01.36.766s
Mullen/Cocker Porsche 996 GT3-RSR 3h01.42.528s